Stephen Ministry Basics

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Written by Ellie Stivers

 
Stephen Ministry is a one-to-one confidential Christian caregiving ministry providing care to people who are experiencing a life challenge or crisis. As a Stephen Ministry congregation, CUMC is a part of something big. There are more than 9,000 Stephen Ministry congegations from over 100 denominations worldwide. Over a quarter of a million lay people have been trained as Stephen Ministers.

Stephen Ministry was developed in 1975 by Dr. Kenneth Haugk, a pastor and clinical psychologist, who saw that he alone as pastor could not meet all the needs of his congegation. So he began training lay persons, called Stephen Ministers, to help provide high quality Christian care. The ministry was so successful that other churches became interested and Dr. Haugk founded the not-for-profit Stephen Ministries organization.

CUMC has two Stephen Leaders, Linda Barling and Ellie Stivers, who were trained in a seven-day conference in Pittsburgh in August of 2006. As Stephen Leaders, it is their job to recruit, select, and train the Stephen Minister trainees who will serve CUMC. Each Stephen Minister will receive 50 hours of initial training in Christian caregiving skills. The training involves such topics as feelings, listening skills, assertiveness, boundaries, using prayer and other Christian resources, and how to minister to someone experiencing grief, divorce, a terminal illness, and more.

Upon completion of training, the Stephen Ministers will be commissioned and then will be assigned to a care receiver. The identity of care receivers is strictly confidential. Stephen Ministers will NOT even know who the care receivers are for each other. Stephen Ministers commit to seeing their care receivers for one hour every week in addition to some telecare. Once care receivers are assigned, the Stephen Ministers will take part in a Supervision sessions and continuing education classes twice a month. Stephen Ministers agree to serve for a minimum of two years.